Stage Whisper
Whisper in the Wings Episode 584
(upbeat music) - Welcome back in everyone to a fabulous new Whisper in the Wings from Stage Whisper. We're very excited to be covering this festival this year. We got put onto it last year and it's such an amazing festival. So it's our honor to be bringing you coverage of that this year and joining us to speak about their work that's in it, we have Playwrights Lorenzo Papino and Amanda Friedman. They're here to talk to us about their show The Angel Makers, which is part of the She NYC Summer Theater Festival. It's happening July 30th through August 11th at the Connolly Theater and you can get your tickets more information by visiting shenycr.org. As I mentioned, we had the beautiful pleasure of getting to speak with some artists last year and taking a few of the shows, but this year we are bringing you some wonderful coverage of this great festival. And we're so happy to be kicking it off with this show. So let's not waste any more time. Let's dive right into this and welcome on our guests, Lorenzo and Amanda, welcome to Whisper in the Wings from Stage Whisper. - Thank you. - Hello. - Thank you for having us, so nice to be here. - Yeah, we're so grateful for this opportunity to chat with you and chat about our show. - I'm so excited the two of you are here and you brought this great show that I can't wait to learn more about. The Angel Makers, Amanda, why don't we start with you and have you tell us a little bit about what this show is about? - Sure, so why don't I tell you about our show? The Angel Makers is based on a true story. It's set in rural Hungary right around the time of World War I and it tells the story of a group of women who systematically poisoned their husbands to escape abusive marriages. - All right, all right, wait, okay. I mean, it's hard to get mad about that, but also interesting. So that is a fascinating story that you're telling. Wow. So Lorenzo, I'm curious to know where did the two of you get the idea for to write this piece? What inspired you? - I am so glad you asked. So Amanda and I first met when we were at grad school together at NYU's graduate musical theater writing program. And for the second year of that program, you're paired with one person to spend a full year writing like a full length musical. So around the time of kind of pitch season for that, and when we were getting our thesis partners, Amanda and I got partnered up and I actually heard this story on a true crime podcast that I listened to. I'm like big into true crime, kind of all things dark and macabre, I find very fascinating. So I heard the story on this podcast and I texted Amanda right away and I was like, we have to write this story. Like I've never heard a story as crazy as this one. It's true. It has everything in it you could ever want in a musical, in my opinion. And we started doing more research. We were paired together and we started working on a draft and I mean, long story short, here we are. - That is incredible, wow. - I think for us, what's been so exciting about this piece once we discovered it is digging into further research from listening to other podcasts, reading research articles, some chapters of books. We even watched a Hungarian short film about it. And I think these details of what has happened and I think for us less gruesome and a little more stranger than fiction, like we could not believe some of the things that occurred during this time period where these women were poisoning their husbands. And I think that's really when we knew, like we couldn't make up something better if we tried. Like all of these amazing rich details are just so, are begging to be dramatized, make for a perfect story. And the fact that it's true is a really exciting piece of it and how we can honor these women and also tell the story, very nuanced story of what women do when they have no other options left and how far they're willing to go to fight for their freedom. - Yeah, and just like building on that, I think another part of why it felt like the right move for us to write the story just because it feels like it could be ripped right out of today and a lot of whippies. Even though we talk about this a lot that like 100 years ago right now, the events of our story were taking place, which was just so crazy to us because reading just the list of events and not knowing the historical context, you really could place it. I think anywhere in history, and I think it's an equally relevant narrative. And I think it brings true, especially now with, all that's happening with Roe versus Wade and the attack on women's rights. So I think it's just the kind of story that needs to be told now. And it's one that I hadn't heard told a lot before discovering it and we're super excited to give it a musical voice. I love that, love that. That's amazing. So let me ask you too, what has it been like developing this piece? As you mentioned, it is a musical, like what's it been like developing it, getting it ready for it? This is the premiere of the show, right? This is the premiere production of the show. We have done three 29 hour readings of it as well as presentations in grad school when we were workshopping it as our thesis. So we had a 45 minute and a 90 minute. This will be the first time we get to get rid of the music stands and see the piece up on its feet and learn how it moves and bring it to life in a totally new way that's gonna, you know, teach us so much about this world and the show. So we are so excited and grateful to she NYC and we're just so lucky to be a part of this festival and getting for this to be our premiere production of the show. - That's amazing. - I think we're super excited because like Amanda said, this is the, the first time we'll also have like a full rehearsal process of time to work on it too. In addition to it being the first time, it'll be on its feet. We won't have just the 29 hour cut off of this much time to prepare it. And it's really like also undersfiling at all times. It's gonna be more like, let's dig in. Let's really polish this and make it look like the thing we want, which is just like an exciting new chapter for us. I think we're feeling very much confident in our like reading presentation at this point. I'm in our super excited too. Like learn what we're gonna learn from a stage production, which is gonna show us so much about the piece that we didn't already know. - That is fantastic. So let me ask you to, what is it like developing the piece as you're getting ready for this world production, world premiere production of it? And Amanda, I wanna start with you on me. - Sure. So our first, we began working on the piece two summers ago, the summer of 2022, when we were tasked with creating a proposal for the show for our group of thesis advisors. Essentially the way our first year development occurred was that again, we were very lucky that we were able to build this piece as our pieces for grad school, where every week we had sessions with our advisors, we would bring them in new scenes and songs and they would offer us feedback. So we started in the summer developing, you know, characters building a plot outline that we, you know, changed back and forth like four times. And you know, constantly are still changing as the piece continues to grow. We wrote two songs in one scene to sort of start to build, I think really the tone of the piece from that summer, we wrote, you know, a funny song for the men as they started to feel terrified as the women grew more powerful in the town. We wrote a song for our female protagonist as she, as the leader of these women, this midwife character who's in town and sort of this first song that she, you know, when she realizes she has to help these other women and do something about it. And so those were our first pieces of the show. And then every week, pretty much for almost a year, we continued writing and rewriting. Each week we would bring about two pieces. Usually it was like two songs and scenes. Usually something was new, something was rewritten. I think what was exciting for us was once we sort of had this outline structure and our advisors kind of gave us the go ahead that this was the project we should spend our year writing, we would sort of say, okay, what's the next moment that's exciting us? What's this character we want to learn about? What's we know? Here are the events we know have to happen. So let's start with those and then see what happens from there. And I think what's been so exciting is that, you know, as we started to put those pieces together, a show started taking shape. I think like six months in, we sort of had a pretty, pretty rough, but full sense of act one. Within the next, I think like three months, we got act two together. And have since continued writing and rewriting, I think we're, we love this is a, it's a show that both has lead characters and this beautiful ensemble of women and men. And so we had some great time last summer as we continue to develop the piece for our first stage reading to give voice to these ensemble characters and start to dig into them a little bit more and see where their, you know, individual identities, how we could highlight them, could fit more into the piece. But then, you know, on the other hand, it was like, okay, we have to make sure that that doesn't just take away from the protagonist and the main narrative that is happening. It's been a lot of back and forth, a lot of with motions and, you know, learning and growth and Lauren and I are just really lucky because we have a ton of fun writing in the room together. - Wonderful. Lorenzo, anything you want to add to that? - No, I mean, I feel like Amanda really got the major points of the process. Just the last year since graduating, since finishing our thesis has been really helpful, seeing all these 29-hour readings 'cause it's really given us these good check-in points to see, okay, if we have this version of the script, we've made, you know, this big list of changes. Now let's see, which of them are working, okay, great. We saw this 29-hour reading with these changes, great. Now let's make a new changes for the next one. So it's been really great to have all of these kind of developmental opportunities to really get the show to where we feel like it needs to be because so much of theater is obviously the live aspect of it and being in a room together as like rewarding and wonderful as it is. You can only conceptualize of what it's gonna look like so far before running into the actual logistical problems of, oh, wait, I actually can't change that costume in 15 seconds and therefore these two characters can't be back to back in scenes. And all those kinds of things that you learn through the process of putting it up are, I think, the things that really strengthen it and get it to the place that it needs to be to be ready for a full stage production like this, which is super exciting. - Yeah, and I think another thing that has been really fun throughout this process is that when the ones that I were in the room writers, we've spent a lot of, most of this musical has been written when we are in a room together, somewhere on Zoom together, which is exciting. We feel like it's really truly like a marriage of the two of us in our writing styles and our comedic tendencies and dramatic tendencies and what's fun that happens when people start to notice this once we spend a lot of time together, we start to like hive mind. And so then we start having the same idea at the same time and then when you're in a room with us, sometimes it's scary and we just start saying the same things at the same time. It's just, it's really special that we get to be on this journey together. - That is fabulous. And just sort of a fun anecdote to like add to that, which is that for the NYU program that we were in, for the application part, you get paired with another, like once you advance past the first round, you get paired with another person who advanced to write a song in one weekend in like a scene for your application and that's kind of the final step to see how you collaborate with people and to see what you can come up with on a short timeframe. And Amanda and I were actually paired together as random applicants, weekend partners. And then spent the whole first year working with different people because that's the structure of the program and then came back together for our thesis. So it's been just like a really special and long journey that started like deep in the pandemic and it's continued through to today. So it's really just rewarding and awesome to see how much we've grown together and how far the pieces come. - It is amazing, wonderful. Lorenzo, let me ask you, is there a message or thought you're hoping audiences take away from this piece? - Absolutely. I think I want to be careful because I don't want to say this is the message of the piece. I think we're excited that the characters in this are complex and that what you might go in thinking and they think at the beginning of the show is not necessarily what you leave thinking. I think something that I'm very interested in the audience taking away is that we have agency as people and that doesn't mean we get to do whatever we want but it does mean that we are able to take actions to control our fate and it's not completely out of our hands. And even when the odds seem insurmountable, there are things that you can do, there's something you can do to make the world a better place to make your world a better place to make your communities world a better place. The flip side of that is also that sort of absolute power does corrupt absolutely and anything that involves mass murder probably is not the ideal solution. However, I do think the agency thing is really is the big part of just that even in the most dire of circumstances in the darkest of worlds, there is a light and there is hope and there's something you can do. - Beautiful, Amanda, I wanna ask you the final question for this first part and that is, who do you hope have access to your work? - So we really hope that members of the industry are able to come see our show. We feel like the show is ready for its next step. We're ready to sort of leave Reading Land this first production and I think we really want, we're looking for creative and producing partners to sort of take us, take the show with them on its next journey. And so we're hoping that people in the industry and creatives, producers, agents, anyone who's looking for their next project, for their next show to sort of champion, I think right now we're looking for people who want to champion our show. As you know, young, up and coming musical theater writers, we are learning every day and we are grateful to so many people who have mentored us and who have offered us advice and wisdom. And I think we're looking for who will be our collaborative partner in this process. So we hope that members of the industry are able to come see the show, are able to see what it is and also see what it can be on an even bigger scale and talk to us because we're really excited about this and we think it's something that other people can be, we'll be really excited about too. And a story that others will wanna help us tell. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) For the second part of our interview, we love giving our listeners a chance to get to know our guests a little bit better. Pick your brains, if you will. And I wanna start with our regular first question, which is what or who inspires, what playwrights, composers or shows have inspired you in the past or are just some of your favorites? And Lorenzo, I could start first with you on that, please. - Yeah, absolutely. It's funny, I feel like the AngelMakers itself has a list of influences and then I have a list of influences and then there's also the stuff that I listen to that I feel like I would love to influence me, that doesn't influence me at all, but I would love to influence me more. That being said, I feel like the, for me, the musicals that come to mind as my favorites are things like cabaret into the woods and wicked are the ones that I think of right off the bat that I really inspire me and are just shows that I've seen at various points in my life that I've had a huge impact on. How have you storytelling and what I think theater can be in terms of pop music? I love, I'm looking around, I have lots of music framed around my room. I have Fleetwood Mac, Frank Ocean, Radiohead, Phoebe Bridgers is a fave. Beyonce, obviously, yeah, I'm a big fan of all kinds of music. I come from a actually classical music background too. So that's really where I got my start is in the classical world. So I love music from all parts of the timeline and I think that they all sort of come together and in my work. I love vocal harmonies too, very specifically. That's something that I think is a big hallmark of my musical writing and it's something that is very exciting to us about the show is the world of the vocals with the women specifically. I did an acapella in college, shout out and that definitely impacted just my sensibilities about vocal arranging and what singing sounds like in a group. - Those are some wonderful inspirations, yes. Amanda, what about you? What inspires you? - Well, I need the listeners to know that Andrew is currently wearing a come from away t-shirt and so my all time favorite musical is come from away. Part of it I think is because I'm a Canadian and American dual citizen and so I think for me, I felt so represented in this show that is a, you know, has the planning people who are all the stranded passengers and also all the townspeople from Gander. I felt like my Canadian, Canadianisms were really represented. So I think for me, but come from away specifically, I think that the storytelling, I think to have this group constantly switch between characters to constantly use simple things like chairs to transition from being on a plane to a bus to a Tim Hortons. I think for me, storytelling, like that, that are efficient and swift and crafty and effective, I think for me is so exciting. And I think it was a story that I just felt, you know, dealt with the really hard challenge that made so many people feel seen and told this beautiful story that was full of tragedy, but also full of hope. And so I think I'm very big into like dark comedy and dualities and, you know, holding mixed emotions. I think that's so much of what our show is. It's holding, you know, contradicting things at once and working through those emotions. So I come from away as one that really speaks to mine. I also love Fun Home. Again, another like intimate small show. I love Jeanine Soussore. I think her work is just wonderful. I, as a, as just a musical listener, I'm a big fan of the Ava brothers. I think again, I love some like just clear, beautiful lyricism and storytelling and, you know, a lot of kind of just raw instrumentational sounds like an acoustic guitar. I also, I think Taylor Swift is one of the greatest lyricists of our time. I'm gonna say it. I believe it. I wrote about her in my grad school application. So those are some of the, the people I'm listening to and following. - I love that list as well. As I said before we started, come on over here. We are BFFs. We're just gonna go around and see shows. You named some of my favorites, as well as some of my favorite composers. Jeanine Soussore is incredible. I could write a whole thesis about her. I could do a whole 10-part episode about her, but that's not what we're here to do today. But I love that list is so wonderful. I wanna ask the two of you now, what is your favorite part about working in theater? And Amanda, I'd like to start first with you if I may. - Collaboration is definitely my favorite part about working in theater. I think it is so special and magical what people can create together. I, as a writer, spend a lot of time in my own head and can dig myself into holes so deep that nothing can get accomplished. And I think what is so beautiful about a collaborator is not only that they can hold you accountable and see the worth in the things you are creating, but also take them to a new level that you can never do on your own. And then I think it's so exciting when you build a team and you start to bring in a director into a piece. You bring in actors who bring so much color and life to characters that they start to become real than just all these voices you're holding in your head at one time. And so collaboration, I think, is the magic that it's not always easy. It can be tricky and challenging, but it's always worth it. And I think it's like the most beautiful human thing about this being a part of theater. Was that you do it, not in a vacuum, but with other people. - Yes, yes. Say that again for the people in the back. Lorenzo, how about you? What is your favorite part? - Yeah, I mean, I was gonna say collaboration as well. That's sort of the thing for me. I think for me, the thing that is always so exciting is when you're getting into the process and suddenly everyone is there in the room and you have this moment of like, oh my God, everyone is doing this. And it started out as the seed of a thought and it has become 30 people giving all of themselves and bringing their work and their perspective and their experience and everything about who they are and their talent and things that I never could have thought of and that Amanda never could have thought of. And it's just this whole machine that gets created. And especially when you're having a good time and I think we've had a really great time in this process. And when you have an amazing cast and when you have an amazing group of people working on it, it really is like the best feeling in the world. For me specifically, the Div like Sits Probe is always my favorite day, just getting to hear the band with the cast and getting, I love seeing the cast hear themselves with the band and like the moment of like themselves singing over top of the band and like their face is always so satisfying. I love the collaborative nature of it really. It's a team sport and I think that is the most fun part. I would never want to do a one man play. - I love that answer as well. What a relatable answer that's beautiful. And now we have arrived at my favorite question to ask us. And that of course is what is your favorite theater memory? - I think my favorite theater memory was probably last summer when we presented our first staged reading that we did independently and that we kind of put together and self produced. It was the moment of coming off stage after giving our pre-show speech on the first day of the shows and going to the back of the house and just feeling the energy in the space. And like once the show started, there was just this like electricity that was so palpable and tangible and like just to me defines why I love doing this. And it has never talked that level of feeling yet, but I know that it will. - Yeah, I feel like if you ask us this after the festival, we'll probably say getting the CRP stuff on its feet. But I think one for me was that this past year we had a reading with, that we did through NYU's graduate acting program and it was a collaboration with them and our department that we graduated from. And for me, what was really special about that was it was the same week five years ago that I was in my like senior show in college. I did a, I was in Mr. Burns in college. Which is actually exciting because I just saw the like 10th anniversary concert reading of it this past weekend and I felt many, many feelings. That show was wild and amazed to think I love it. And I think for me, when I reflected on like myself five years ago, I remembered, I looked, I had a journal where I wrote after being in that show. I was like, no matter what I do going forward, as I graduate, like Peter is gonna be a part of my life. And it was really special to reflect that the same week five years later, here I was with a group of actors who were doing a reading of a show that I wrote and just the fact that I've been able to keep that true, that Peter has been a part of my life in such a beautiful way that I never would have imagined five years ago. And to get to share that with Lorenzo and with that, that group of actors was a special group. Every group is, and that was just a really special sort of circular moment for me. - That is fantastic. Two, two fantastic memories. Oh my gosh, those were wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing those with us. As we wrap things, I would love to know, do either of you have any other projects or productions coming on the pipeline? We might be able to plug for you. - I just had one that finished, but right now this is sort of the thing that I'm full sending. And this is the current plan. I don't know if Amanda has anything to plug. - I would say I have a couple projects in very early stage development. So nothing really to plug there. But I think I will plug that Lorenzo and I when we pitched our thesis musical, you had to pitch two projects. So our other project is something that we, you know, is something that we play with every now and then, but it's a piece about community that lives inside a snow globe and they experience what is called the big shake. And it's sort of an allegory for climate change and a group of just some really quirky characters living in a little town, navigating the world and all of its uncertainties. And so once, you know, the Angel Makers train continues to chug along, we'll, you know, have more things to share about that. - I love that, that is so wonderful. And that leads to my final question, which is if our listeners would like more information about the Angel Makers or about either of you, perhaps I'd like to reach out to you, how can they do so? - They can follow @theangelmakersmusical on Instagram. They can also check out our website, www.theangelmakersmusical.com. And the Instagram will have links to both mine and Amanda's socials and information about our upcoming production. And obviously you've plugged the shoot the NYC ticket link. And if you want to learn more about our dates and times for that production, you can check out @shenyc's schedule because tickets are selling fast and are going to sell out soon. - Wonderful. Well, Lorenzo, Amanda, thank you both so, so much for taking the time to speak with me. For sharing this amazing work that you've created, I cannot wait to see this show. This sounds amazing. So thank you both so much for your time today. - Thank you. - Thank you so much for having us. - So nice to meet you. - And we're excited for you to come see the show. - I can't wait, you're not wait. My guest today, we've been the amazing playwrights, Lorenzo, Papino and Amanda Freedom, whose new work "The Angel Makers" is playing as part of the She NYC Summer Theater Festival. It's happening July 30th through August 11th at the Connolly Theater, and you can get your tickets and more information by visiting shenycarts.org. We also have some contact information for our guests, which we'll be posting on our social media posts, as well as on our episode description. But like they said, run, do not walk, get your tickets now. Tickets are going so fast and the show is gonna be here and gone before you know it. Granted, it will be back, I'm sure, very soon, but you wanna catch it first at the She NYC, Summer Theater Festival. So again, that show is "The Angel Makers" playing July 30th through August 11th. So until next time, I'm Andrew Cortez, reminding you to turn off your cell phones, unwrap your candies. - And keep talking about the theater. - And a stage whisper. - Thank you. (upbeat music) - If you like what you hear, please leave a five star review, like and subscribe. - You can also find us on Facebook and Instagram at stagewhisperpod. - And feel free to reach out to us with your comments and personal stories at stagewhisperpod@gmail.com. - And be sure to check out our website for all things stage whisper and theater. You'll be able to find merchandise, tours, tickets and more. Simply visit stagewhisperpod.com. Our theme song is "Maniac" by Jazzar. Other music on this episode provided by Jazzar and Billy Murray. You can also become a patron of our show by logging on to patreon.com/stagewhisperpod. There you will find all the information about our backstage pass as well as our tip jar. Thank you so much for your generosity. We could not do this show without you. ♪ I don't wear a sweater, I don't care ♪ ♪ Anywhere will you come, make me down ♪